There’s been some discussion about how we might not have general election debates this year. I initially dismissed the talk as needless speculation, but the more I hear about it, the more likely it seems. Though the issue still doesn’t top my list of concerns, it’s climbing the charts.

As today’s columnist points out, presidential debates have more than their fair share of over-rehearsed lines, but they also provide voters with a straight-on, unedited look at each party’s candidate. With our fractured news-media, that’s important, to say nothing of rare. Voters deserve to see their candidates in as unfiltered a setting as possible. And they deserve candidates who respect them enough to oblige.